And much has already been written on how Ha'aretz' belated corrections to its mistakes will never be propagated to the many media outlets that uncritically parroted the original, biased article.
But it is not only the media that embraced this canard. Anti-Israel groups masquerading as "peace" groups have also run with Levy's flawed assumptions, and are even adding to them.
"Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East" is one such group. While they cannot seem to find a way to condemn Hamas rocket fire, incitement against Jews on official PA media or Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel, they revel in anything that can make Israel look bad. So this bogus survey is right up their alley.
In their gleeful press release announcing Levy's article, their president says “The Israeli government, and its supporters in Canada, rile at the term ‘Israeli apartheid,’ and have even tried to prohibit its public use here in Canada, yet, as this survey reveals, it is unfortunately all too apt.”
CJPME doesn't only parrot Ha'aretz' discredited claims - they exaggerate them. One egregious example:
Forty-seven percent favour the expulsion of Israel’s “Arab” citizens, with only 40 percent opposed.Really? 47% of Israelis want to expel all Israeli Arabs?
The actual question was:
?האם אתה תומך או מתנגד לטרנספר, דהינו להעביר חלק מערביי ישראל לרשות הפלסטינית
"Do you support or oppose transfer, i.e., to move some Israeli Arabs to the Palestinian Authority?"
This is a very poorly worded question, as were many of the survey questions. But it is clear that most Israelis would interpret this in the context of a land swap, where heavily Arab areas bear the Green Line would be swapped with settlement blocs in a peace agreement, obviating the need to physically move people to new homes on either side. (This is especially obvious because the previous question was about Israel keeping the settlement blocs.) The word "transfer" is loaded and had a completely different meaning in the days of the Kach party, but the survey question seems to have purposefully kept it in just so people like Levy could interpret it in the worst way.
But CJPME doesn't care about the subtlety. even though the question explicitly says "some Israel Arabs" they make it sound like a plurality of Israelis want to physically expel all Israeli Arabs.
Because CJPME doesn't care about peace or coexistence. Its website makes it clear that it believes that Israel is uniquely evil and the Arabs are wonderful (their upcoming fundraiser is entitled "Experiencing Arabia" - can you imagine one called "Experiencing Judea"?) This flawed survey and bogus interpretation is right up their alley.
So thanks to Haaretz and Gideon Levy, Israel-haters pretending to be "peace activists" have ammunition that will keep them going for years, the truth be damned.
(h/t Gidon Shaviv)